Pirates of the Caribbean: The Ruby Ortaga
by PearlyGirl
Summary: Melissa Weston has lived in Port Royal her whole life. Then one day, she meets Captain Jack Sparrow, and she is swept off into a search for the largest ruby in the world...
1. Default Chapter

~ Okay, I had to brainstorm a little bit, but then this popped into my head, and I had to write this. So if you don't like it, just think of it as a feeble attempt from a feeble mind ~  
  
~ Chapter One ~  
  
I walked down the street, passing the drunks and the whores. I was used to them. I'd lived in Port Royal for almost my whole life. My parents were pirates, and they figured they didn't need a little sprat running around on their ship. Especially a girl. So they dumped me off here when I was a wee little thing, probably thinkin' that I'd become a whore or of the likes. I smiled as I thought this. Who'd of thought that I'd be the most decent girl on this Lord forsaken island?  
I headed down to the blacksmiths. When I arrived, I knocked on the door, and Will answered.  
"Good morning', Ms. Weston," he said, letting me in.  
"Good day, Mr. Turner," I replied, looking around, "I've come to pick up Mr. Stetsons sword. He sent me with the money, o' course."  
I put the bag of money in Will's hand, and he went off to get the afore mentioned sword. I noticed that Will's boss was sitting in the corner, drunk as usual. I petted the donkey, and then Will came back with the sword. It was beautiful. The handle was pure gold. It was a double- edged blade, about twenty-four inches long.  
"Honestly, Will," I said, taking the sword, and wrapping the blade, as not to cut myself, "how can anyone in their right mind think that your boss did this?"  
Will smiled at the compliment. Suddenly, a man burst in. I gave a little yelp, and nearly dropped the sword. The man I worked for would not take kindly to a scratched sword. The man swiveled around; apparently looking for a way out, other than the door he came through already. Will drew his sword, and motioned for me to hide.  
I watched Will walk up to the man. This stranger was dirty, yet dashingly handsome. Suddenly, Will said something about a pirate. My heart jumped in my throught. A pirate? I mean, I've seen some pirates before, but this one seemed different. He was tall, but only a few inches taller than me. He had black hair. He looked like he couldn't make up his mind between dreadlocks or regular hair. He had high cheekbones, and he was darkly tanned. I saw him smile. He had gold and silver teeth caps. But what surprised me most about him were his eyes. They were beautiful. They were almost black. And the lines he added with a charcoal pencil made them seem darker.  
When the pirate had pulled a gun on Will, I jumped out between them.  
"Don't you dare hurt him, or I'll kill you." I said. This man couldn't possibly hurt Will. Will was the one decent man in this place, and if he were killed, poor Elizabeth would have to marry Norrington. I couldn't take that thought.  
"Little missy," he said, with a wave of his hand, "this bullet's not meant for you, or for him."  
Suddenly, he fell to the floor. Will's boss had broken his wine bottle over this man's head. I turned to Will.  
"Who was that man?" I asked.  
"It was a scumbag about to get his due."  
I turned around to see Norrington and his men enter the shop. As his men dragged the man out, Norrington thanked Will's boss.  
"But Will-" I started, but I felt Will's hand on my arm. I looked at him, and he shook his head, meaning they wouldn't care. I nodded, said goodbye, and left the shop. On my way out, Norrington stopped me.  
"Ms. Weston," he said, looking me over, "why would you put yourself between that scum, and Mr. Turner. That wasn't your place."  
I scoffed. "Then whose place was it, Mr. Norrington? I should have let that scum kill the only decent man here?"  
I left him with a look of shock on his face. I wasn't supposed to talk to a man like that. But I didn't care. I had an idea on how to get out of here.  
  
~**~**~  
  
Later that night, I went up to the jail cells. I had a jug of rum with me from the pub. I walked up to the guards on duty. They looked me up and down, with smiles on their faces. They disgusted me, but I put on the most seductive smile I could.  
I sat with them, and they drank the rum I had brought. I pretended to drink some, but my little extra spice would then take effect on me. Soon they were completely knocked out. I reached over and grabbed the keys. I then went downstairs to the cells. Men were in the cells, catcalling, but then they shut up when they saw I had the keys. I looked around, and then spotted him.  
"Sir," I said, "I've come to get you out."  
He looked up at me, and smiled. Then he stood up and walked over to the door.  
"And why would you want to do that, love?"  
"Because you're going to take me with you when you leave."  
The man laughed. It infuriated me. So I reached through the bars, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and pulled him so hard into the bars that it nearly broke his nose.  
"Don't you laugh, kind sir," I said, shaking him, "because I have lived here far too long to bear it any longer. So, either you take me with you, or I can let you hang at the gallows. How would you like a short drop and a sudden stop?"  
That got his attention. "Alright, alright, love, no need to use such terms. What's yer name?"  
"Melissa Weston," I said, finally letting go, "and what's yours?"  
"Captain Jack Sparrow."  
"Alrighty, then, Mr. Sparrow," I said, unlocking the door, "let's go."  
"It's Captain Jack Sparrow," he said, stepping out of the cell, "savvy?"  
"Whatever," I said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to the stairs. I figured these other men would tell Norrington who had let Jack out, so I stopped and looked at them.  
"If I give you a way out, will you not tell who freed this man?"  
"Yes, yes," came the replies.  
"Okay," I said, smiling. I bent over and put the key ring in the guard's dog's mouth. "There, if you can get the dog to give it to you, you have your way out."  
As I dragged Sparrow up the stairs, he smiled.  
"That was might clever of you, love."  
"I know."  
We headed up to his ship. When we got aboard, his crew welcomed him.  
"We were just about to go get you out sir." Said a chubby man, with gray white mutton chops, "we heard they was gonna make you swing for taken the gov'ners daughter hostage."  
"What?" I said. Elizabeth was the governor's daughter. She was my best friend. So I walked over and slapped Jack in the face, "She's my best friend you scoundrel, what did you do to her, I'll kill you if you hurt her."  
Jack grabbed my hand. I winced a little when he held on tighter to make sure I wouldn't slap him with that hand again.  
"I didn't hurt her, love," he said, with a look of sincerity on his face, "I wouldn't harm a woman like that."  
I slapped him again with my free hand.  
"Why do the women always do that to me?" He half screamed. That frightened me a little, because he looked crazy at the moment. He saw me frightened, and calmed down a little.  
"I'm sorry, love, but I hate that."  
"I couldn't help it," I said, trying to put an angelic look on my face, "You're just a slappable kind of man." 


	2. Wounds Revealed

~ Chapter Two ~  
  
I looked around. Then I spotted her. Melissa Weston. Little sprat for the most part, but she was a good woman. I had her working with Anamarie. Women work good together, don't they?  
We had just arrived at Tortuga, and I just met up with someone, some old friend, can't even remember their name, dammit. But what was important was that I had received a very special item from this person. A map. A map leading to the largest ruby in the world. The Ruby Ortaga. I had to get me hands on that ruby. I also remember them saying something about dangerous waters, but I had been too absorbed at looking at the map. In fact, I was now taking it so Melissa and Anamarie could have a look.  
"Loves, loves, come look what I've found now," I said, walking toward them with my usual swagger. I don't remember how I got it, but it comes in handy when you want people to think you're drunk or crazy. Wait, I am crazy..  
But back to the story. Melissa and Anamarie took the paper from my hands and looked it over.  
"What's the matter, love?" I asked Melissa, when a look of horror glued itself to her face.  
"You can't go there!"  
"And why the bloody 'ell not?" I asked.  
"Because," she said, tears starting to come to her eyes, "the last I heard, that's where me parents died. Lookin' for that there ruby ye be wantin'."  
Melissa stormed off, and Anamarie gave me a disapproving look.  
"What?! How was I 'sposed to know that?" I said reproachfully.  
Anamarie just shook her head, handed me back the paper, and told me I should go talk to Melissa.  
"But I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" I said, prideful, "I don't go help women with their emotions, they're too complicated."  
"Just do it!"  
"Okay, okay," I said, putting my hands up, "Don't rip me head off!"  
I found Melissa down the street, sitting on a porch of an abandoned building. When she saw me walking toward her, she looked away. I sat down next to her.  
"What's the matter, love?" I asked again.  
All of a sudden she grabbed me in a death grip of a hug, and started sobbing on my chest. I didn't know what to make of it, so I tried to pull her off, but like I said, she had me in a death grip.  
"Ye can't go there, Jack, we can't go there, you'll kill us all!"  
My jacket muffled her voice. And since I couldn't get her off, I gave a sigh, and hesitantly put my arms around her. I was getting mighty uncomfortable.  
Finally, she stopped crying, and pulled away from me. Suddenly I felt cold without her. I put my hand on her back.  
"Listen, Melissa," I said, "No worries. We'll go get that ruby, no harm no foul. Savvy?'  
Suddenly, she stood up. She looked at me with daggers in her eyes. She pulled up her shirt, but not enough to show me something inappropriate. What I saw took my breath away. There was a scar, very big, about the length between the upper part of her torso, and it continued down her side, hiding the rest of it beneath her pants.  
"What in 'eaven and hell did that to you?"  
"There be monsters there, Jack. Here's your proof."  
I looked at the scar closer. It appeared to be teeth marks of some animal. A very big animal.  
"So, you were there, at the Ortaga?"  
"Before me parents decided they didn't want a child anymore," she said, finally letting her shirt fall, and sitting back down by Jack, "They took me there, trying to search for the Ruby the first time. I remember it clear as day.."  
  
~Flashback~  
  
Melissa was leaning over the rail, looking at the ice in the water. They had gone far north, because that's where the map said Rupert Ortaga, the original finder of the jewel, had placed it. Far north, in an ice cave.  
  
Well, that's where they were now, about to enter an ice cave. Perhaps the very one that Ortaga had placed his beloved jewel. Her father was ordering his men around, and mother was down below, probably helping with dinner. Melissa was enjoying her twenty-minute break from helping around the boat. She was eight. Her mousy brown hair, and hazel eyes were one of the reasons her parents used to be so protective of her. She might catch the eye of some sort of sicko. But after today, she didn't need to worry about that.  
Little Melissa was still looking over the starboard side of the boat, when there was a splash and a roar from the port side. She whirled around and screamed. There was a large reptilian creature, leaning its scaly head over the rail, looking for a victim. One of the crew, an older man in his forties, tried to run past it to the lower decks. It snatched him up in its jaws and ripped him to shreds. Melissa screamed again. This time it turned it's attention on to her. It snapped its head forward, and grabbed her by her side, lifting her up into the air. All she remembered after that was pain, extremely agonizing pain. The pain was so unbearable, it knocked her out. But even in her unconsciousness, she could hear the thing roaring, and her parents screaming her name. Later on she awoke in her cabin, still in pain, so much pain.  
  
~ End Flashback ~  
  
"My parents told me that it had spit me back out into the water after it had tasted of my blood. I still have no idea why it did. When I healed, they left me at Port Royal, saying no one would harm a child with a limp."  
"But you don't have a limp."  
"I did back then, but I've walked out of it."  
I just sat there, stunned. I had never heard of such a beast. I listened and made a mental picture in my head of the creature as Melissa continued to describe it to me. It was huge. It had no arms or legs, but fins. It was a strange color, she remarked, it was tipping between blood red, and scarlet pink. It had four eyes, and that was what was strange about it. Its eyes were nothing but black. No iris, no pupil, just black, with a deep hatred in them. I shuddered at the thought of such a creature.  
"Don't worry, love, I wouldn't let nothing happen to you or to anyone on board," I said, putting my arm around her shoulder, "but we need that ruby."  
"But why?"  
"Have you seen the condition the Pearl's in?" I said, shaking my head like it was obvious, "We need the ruby, or else we'll be pirates without a boat."  
Melissa laughed at that, and I smiled too. So with some more persuasion, she finally said she would come with us, but that if that thing comes for us, to kill it on first sight. I agreed, and we headed back to the ship. 


End file.
